Kriptonite

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Kriptonite

Deuteronomy 7:14 You will be empowered above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.
Deuteronomy 7:15 Yahveh will remove all sickness from you; he will not place on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.
Deuteronomy 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples Yahveh your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, because that will be a snare to you.

Kriptonite

The Israelites were to be like an invincible army of supermen. They would have more children, be impervious to common diseases, and wipe out everyone who dares to oppose them.

But these supermen would be vulnerable to one Kriptonite. Worshiping other gods would remove their protection. If they failed their God, they would be condemning themselves to destruction.

Lord, burn this fact into our memory so that we stay true to you.

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your offspring and produce

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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your offspring and produce

Deuteronomy 7:12 “If you listen to and are careful to watch these rules, Yahveh your God will watch his covenant loyalty with you, as he swore to your fathers.
Deuteronomy 7:13 He will care about you, empower you, and multiply you. He will bless your offspring, and the produce of your land– your grain, new wine, and fresh oil– the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land he swore to your fathers that he would give you.

your offspring and produce

Note the progression of these promises compared to the covenant with Adam. Our first parents were responsible to be fruitful and multiply and fill the land. Under the covenant with Moses, God promises to multiply the Israelites. Our first parents were responsible to subdue the land. Under the covenant with Moses, God promises to subdue the land for the Israelites. All the Israelites had to do was to follow the rules they had already agreed to obey.

Christian, when you came to Christ, and you agreed to be part of his kingdom, did you not understand that God wanted to bless this planet through you? If you have children, he wants them to be a blessing from God— not just to you, but to everyone. If you own a business, God wants to use that business not just to pay your bills, but to empower your community. It all depends on how faithful you are in following the commands of Christ.

Lord, everything we have is yours. Bless others through it.

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he watches, so watch

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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he watches, so watch

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know that Yahveh your God is God, the faithful God who watches his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who care about him and keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 7:10 But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.
Deuteronomy 7:11 So watch the command – the prescriptions and rules – that I am commanding you to follow today.

he watches, so watch

We are tempted to think of God as going about his own affairs and only occasionally dropping a miracle down on us. Not so. Our God is not engrossed in some other section of the universe so that he doesn’t see all that happens in our lives. He is constantly watching, and waits to see if there is any act of obedience that he can reward. He also sees every act of rebellion, and hears every whisper of doubt.

Since we have a God who is constantly watching, we need to watch his commands, making sure that we obey them. In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, and his commands are our responsibility.

Lord, make us diligent to obey all your commands, because you are watching.

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cleansing Canaan

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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cleansing Canaan

Deuteronomy 7:5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their standing stones, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images.
Deuteronomy 7:6 You see, you are a sacred people to Yahveh your God. Yahveh your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the land.
Deuteronomy 7:7 “Yahveh had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, because you were the fewest of all peoples.
Deuteronomy 7:8 But because Yahveh cared about you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

cleansing Canaan

The Israelites were to be about the business of making a mark for God on the land he promised to them. But God is not happy being one among many. He wanted his people’s land to be free of the marks of all those false gods. A marker left standing would be temptation for the Israelites to pay homage to it. A sacred people required a sacred land. It had to be cleansed of its impurities.

Under the covenant with Christ, the land we are called to possess is the mind of Christ. We must cleanse our own Canaan of its unhealthy allegiances. No mark of sin must be left standing.

Lord, help us to cleanse our minds of the marks of past disloyalties.

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partnering with paganism

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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partnering with paganism

Deuteronomy 7:2 and when Yahveh your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely eliminate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
Deuteronomy 7:3 You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
Deuteronomy 7:4 because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then Yahveh’s anger will burn against you, and he will rapidly exterminate you.

partnering with paganism

These instructions may seem severe, but they are extremely wise. The objective of the Mosaic mission was a land dedicated to God. Treaties and mixed marriages with those dedicated to idols would defeat the mission.

Likewise, we who have a mission from our Savior need to take great care not to get caught up in foolishness of the ungodly by forming alliances and partnering with them. They are our mission, but we must not let ourselves or our children be theirs.

Lord, in our zeal to reach the nations for Christ, give us wisdom to know how not to partner with paganism.

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he drives out many nations

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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he drives out many nations

Deuteronomy 6:24 Yahveh commanded us to follow all these prescriptions and to fear Yahveh our God for our good always and that we may stay alive, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 6:25 Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands in the sight of Yahveh our God, like he has commanded us.’
Deuteronomy 7:1 “When Yahveh your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of, and he drives out many nations before you – the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—

he drives out many nations

There was not just one nation the Israelites had to contend with. There were seven. Each could have obliterated the people of God. But God was driving out each nation, removing each obstacle.

At some point in your life you will realize that there are far more things that could go wrong than could go right. The odds are against us. Don’t worry. God is allowing it to be that way so he gets credit for our victory.

Lord, the odds are against us, but you have it covered.

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the meaning of the rules

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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the meaning of the rules

Deuteronomy 6:20 “When your son asks you in the future, and this is what they say: ‘What is the meaning of the reminders, prescriptions, and rules that Yahveh our God has commanded you? ‘

Deuteronomy 6:21 tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but Yahveh brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Deuteronomy 6:22 Before our eyes Yahveh inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household,

Deuteronomy 6:23 but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our fathers.

the meaning of the rules

The rules and prohibitions of the Mosaic covenant were designed to remind the Israelites that they had been redeemed by the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and rescued out of Egypt. As such, they were not a burden, but a blessing. They were designed to promote worship.

The commands of Christ also point us to his death on the cross: our redemption under the new covenant. Without the death of Christ, no amount of good works could erase our sins. After his atonement, our obedience to his commands helps to guide others to him.

Thank you Lord for your commands, and your grace which gives purpose to our obedience to them.

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trusting, not testing

Posted on December 12, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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trusting, not testing

Deuteronomy 6:16 Do not test Yahveh your God like you tested him at Massah.

Deuteronomy 6:17 Carefully observe the commands of Yahveh your God, the reminders and prescriptions he has commanded you.

Deuteronomy 6:18 Do what is right and good in Yahveh’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and take possession of the good land Yahveh your God swore to give your fathers,

Deuteronomy 6:19 by pushing away1 all your enemies before you, as Yahveh has said.

trusting, not testing

Exodus 17:1-7 tells the story of Massah. The Israelites were thirsty and turned on Moses, blaming him for their having to leave Egypt! God provided the water by having Moses strike a rock. But the place was renamed testing from that time on.

The choice was to trust God or to test God. That day, the Israelites made the wrong choice. Moses brings up Massah here as a reminder that tough times will test God’s people, but they do not give us permission to test God.

Lord, we choose to trust you, not to test you.

1הָדַף

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your God who is among you

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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your God who is among you

Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear Yahveh your God, worship him, and take your oaths in his name.

Deuteronomy 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,

Deuteronomy 6:15 because Yahveh your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, Yahveh your God will become angry with you and exterminate you from the face of the land.

your God who is among you

Notice the choice the Israelites had to make. They could follow the gods of the people around them, or they could fear their God who was among them. Those pagan gods are not to be feared if they choose to fear God instead. But if they choose to follow those pagan idols, they will suffer the fate of the idol worshipers whom they would dispossess.

If we realize God’s greatness, we will fear him and love him at the same time. Even our Savior commands us to fear God.1 But he also commands us to love God.2

We can do this more easily by remembering that God is our Father in the sky. Even though he has terrifying power, he uses that power to bless his children.

Thank you Lord for being the sky Father among us.

1Matthew 10:28

2Matthew 22:37

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redemption and left

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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redemption and left

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 JDV

Deuteronomy 6:10 “When Yahveh your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you – a land with large and good cities that you did not build,

Deuteronomy 6:11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant– and when you eat and are satisfied,

Deuteronomy 6:12 be careful or else you will forget Yahveh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

redemption and left

The Israelites were going to experience great blessing at the hand of God. He would prosper them beyond their dreams and expectations. But he warned them not to forget him as they forgot their past troubles. Their culture was going to have what we call “redemption and lift” and it would result in a higher standard of living. But sometimes such cultures experience “redemption and left” where they keep all the trappings of financial stability but lose the moral base that created it.

Lord, keep us so grounded in our relationship with Christ that even financial prosperity will not shake our faith in him.

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